Professional Correctness Literary Studies And Political Change [Paperback]

The discipline of literary criticism is strictly defined, and the most pressing issues of our timeracism, violence against women and homosexuals, cultural imperialism, and the likeare located outside its domain. InProfessional Correctness, Stanley Fish raises a provocative challenge to those who try to turn literary studies into an instrument of political change, arguing that when literary critics try to influence society at large by addressing social and political issues, they cease to be literary critics at all.

Anyone interested in the debate over the place of cultural studies in the field of literary criticism, or the more general question of whether academics can become the public intellectuals many aspire to be, needs to read Fish's powerful and unconventional argument for restoring discipline to the academy.

Fish has written a very stylish, muscular little book arguing that the enemies of literary study are the new Historicism and cultural studies, and that more professionalism just might save the sinking ship.The book is by far the most powerful critique yet written of recent developments in academic humanities that have made interdisciplinary boundary crossing, cultural studies, and politically oriented textual analysis the dominant trend. Fish writes with a wit and dash that make him every bit as readable as the most nasty neocons while being vastly better informed.Stanley Fish raises a provocative challenge to those who try to turn literary studies into an instrument of political change, arguing that when literary critics try to influence society at large by addressing social and political issues, they cease to be literary critics at all.